Whitton, Griffith, Yenda and Binya State Forest

For some reason I felt somewhere South of ordinary when I woke this morning.  The weather had the same issue: rather than start nice and get crappy it cut to the chase and was a howling gale and cloud from the start.

Despite my physical state we headed off through Leeton towards Golgedrie Weir.  Once we turned off the main road towards Whitton we were driving through cotton country.  These guys mainly go for cuboid bales rather than the yellow rolls favoured further West.  Not much else to look at until we got to the Weir where we examined a sign requesting $2 each to enter.  We didn’t have a great problem with this but thought in view of the weather we’d pay our money and see zip so did a u-turn and headed off to Whitton.

This was a surprisingly interesting town with several preserved old buildings

 and very good interpretive signs.  The second one commemorates a former head of the Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission.

They had a nice memorial Park which was photographed for our official record.

As we had moved on a bit swiftly, we decided to vary our plans and go to check out Griffith rather than head for Barellan.  Griffith is the biggest town in the Riverina and seemed very prosperous.  The mythology is that it is the centre on some informal (and apparently inflammable) horticultural practices which might, explain some of the wealth.  Noting that such practices are not always universally endorsed might explain the number of very authoritarian signs around.

Neither of these explained the fact that the Regional Art Gallery was locked up despite a number of signs saying it should be open,  Apparently it was closed because their next exhibition opened that evening.   I pointed out to the folk at the Theatre (which is organizationally linked to the Gallery) that it would be a good idea to put a sign to this effect on the door!

There were many War Memorials around the place and it will be interesting to see how many additions I make.  Here are a couple of samples: the rest are in the special page.

The Memorial Hall

 Soldier-Settler Memorial

 Memorial to airmen

As we strolled up the street we passed the Council Offices where people were organizing the folk coming in to vote early for the Council Elections tomorrow.    This building is very modern, but I think the old Chambers are somehow embedded within it.

As Frances commented there seems to be a lot of interest in these elections judging by the number of folk handing out how to vote cards.  Possibly this reflects people’s awareness that if they just let the forces of evil (property developers. lawyers and other shady characters) get elected they’ll end up with very poor quality of life.

I could have made some money at this point since the workers all took much interest in Tammy sniffing at the placards and encouraging her to mark her territory on the opponent’s signs.  I did say I could arrange this but had to rush to catch up to Frances before anyone stumped up some folding material.

There were a few interesting public artworks around including a mosaic mural on the wall of the RSL

 and some mosaic works outside the Theatre at the top of the town.

Wandering back down the street we found a street stall selling bags of oranges and veggies on behalf of Legacy.  So we got a bag of navels and a huge cabbage!  Plus had a pleasant chat with the vendor about rabbit problems.

By and large I enjoyed Griffith (apart from the bossy signs) but it was time to move on.  The weather seemed to have improved a bit – mainly due to the shelter of the buildings I suspect - so we pointed ourselves at Binya State Forest.

Before we got there we passed Yenda which appeared to be a town so we swung in to see what was there.  A couple of good War Memorials (this one at the Diggers Club)

and some interesting old buildings, many of which looked to be falling into decrepidation. A friend in Carwoola has subsequently explained that this may be due to Mirrool Creek recently flooding the town to a depth of 1.5m!  This post explains how that happened.

Getting to Binya State Forest we headed off along the Binya Forest Drive.

It was excellent, as we were finally finding some flowering plants.  Here are a few samples with the whole set in a special post

Xerochrysum (plus ants).

Petalochilus fuscatus

There was quite a lot of Salvation Jane/ Paterson’s Curse around.  In places it was about 75cm tall, in the middle of the road.   There had been no obvious effort to control it.

Birding that starts with a Red-capped Robin is always good.  The other special was a flock of Apostlebirds.  They are of particular interest since I usually spend a lot of time looking – usually unsuccessfully – for them as we drive across the Mallee when going to and from Adelaide.  A Horsfield’s Bronze-cuckoo posed nicely. 

The road was good in places, dodgy (mainly where people with no brain and a big right foot had dug up the track in wet weather) in others and pretty much non-existent towards the end.  However we made it through with no real drama and (unlike last time I drove through here) didn’t puncture a tyre. 

A quick swing by Fivebough Swamp where the weather was really nasty and there were few birds around and on home, where the sun was setting

 On the way back to the house I noticed this sign at the start of town.  The use of an Ibis to represent the letter I is very nifty.

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Day 4: Dutton Bay

Probably just hang out near the cottage after the long drive of the previous day.

Yep, that is what happened.  After a good nights sleep the noise of the birds (and not John Peel's horn)  got me from my bed.  A good haul was achieved, of which the most surprising was two Horsfield's Bronze-Cuckoos.  Pied Cormorants were also good.  The mammal list was enlarged by a fox (being seen off by Masked Lapwings) and a pod of at least a dozen dolphins in the bay.

As is often the case in coastal areas there are tractors around the place that are used for hauling boats down to the ramp.  I think this one (a Fordson rather than the traditional Fergie TE20) is past its used by date.

Following breaking our fasts we wandered off to revisit the areas I had been earlier to see what else we could find and to identify the plants.  We were able to identify the area also: it is the Ricky Bates Reserve, named after a custodian of the site, who appears to have passed away and been replaced by a local Landcare group. 

This is basically a sheoke heath (Allocasuarina verticillata) on a Limestone base.

We found some good plants (to save upload times I have decided to have a special plants page and will use hyperlinks to let people see images of species when they wish:

Hardenbergia violaceae 

Templetonia retusa

Wurmbea dioica

Correa pulchella 

Drosera auriculata

Lomandra effusa  

Eucalyptus diversifolia  

Lasiopetalum discolor 

Goodenia sp.

Pomadierris obcordata 

Threlkedia diffusa (a saltbush) 

Acrotriche patula

There was also a very interesting plant which thus far we haven't identified with certainty. has finally (close to a year later) been identified as Grevillea aspera: pretty close to endemic to this area.

The cliffs were also photogenic.

In the afternoon, since it appeared likely to rain we drove to Shelly Beach.  

The only plant in flower there was a lily Burchardia umbellata.  As the rain appeared to be starting we hopped in the car and headed for home, pausing to look down into a swamp (why there is standing water in a limestone area is a question I can't answer!).  There were some good birds there including 8 Australian Shelducks and 2 Caspian Terns.

Nothing much came of the rain so I went back to Ricky Bates Reserve to photograph the Threlkedia.  After finding that I decidable to have a good look for orchids.  I think I found some!  As they still seem to be at bud stage ID is a bit iffy but I will opine that Cyrtostylis robusta (the robut gnat orchid) is looking like a winner!

I haven't commented at all on invertebrates because they haven't been too obvious.  A few mosquitoes were evident at Ricky Bates Reserve but although their bites swelled up they didn't itch.  Back at the house we found quite a lot of case moth larval cases stuck on the water tank.

After the exertions of the day we were having a medicinal glass of red when I noticed a dolfin phin (sic) out in the sea.  We watched it swim around and along the shoreline about 10m out.  As it came past “our” house it must have got on to some good stuff as it sped up dramatically.  

About 30m past our house it disappeared below the ripples.  A truly magic moment, like unto seeing a Rhino from our room at Ngorongoro or Hippos on the lawn in the Serengeti.

The maritime theme continues inside the house with several art works made from shells and driftwood decorating the walls.

There are also quite a few mounted photographs of kids enjoying the beach at sunset: presumably that is in Summer not the current climate.

Other residents watch their large digital TVs.  We didn't watch the TV as they didn't receive ABC or SBS!

Bird of the Day:                                 Australian Shelduck due to good numbers and speccie looking.   [Several others were nominated: Pied Oystercatchers (Colourful, amusing and nice to see from the bed).  Horsfields Bronze-Cuckoo (unusually early sighting).]

Plant of the day:                                Correa pulcella: lots of them and very colourful.  [The orchid will get a guernsey once it opens!]

Most interesting thing of the day:    Seeing a dolphin swim by 10m out from the shoreline.

What we learned today:                    Preparing for the plants has paid off!

At Tuesday Eve did cross a Dolphin,

Across the Bay it came;

It ate the food it always ate

Sped up, when meal did same.

(A slight cheat as this combines, as model, parts of two verses of the original.)

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Day 5: Touring Port Lincoln

Going here (or possibly there) around Lower Eyre Peninsula.

The weather overnight was somewhat stormy.  It seemed that every hour a squall would pass with very noisy wind, and lashing rain.  At least the temperature is several degrees higher than it has been in Canberra.  The dawn however was great!

We decided that we would go to Coffin Bay the next day so headed off towards Port Lincoln, pausing to check out the Big Swamp.  We were rewarded with a sighting of a male Musk Duck doing a vigorous display by chucking wingfulls of water high into the air.  The object of his attentions was not visible,

Proceeding down the highway I stopped to begin my collection of photos of SA road safety signs.  So much better than the NSW equivalent with some slapper doing a weak pinky pose.

As we swung into Port Lincoln we were intending to do the Pernkalla walking tour.  Then I looked at the map and realised it was going to be many kilometres long.  So we started in the middle, adjacent to the statue of Makbe Diva – a nag who won two Melbourne Cups, 

Proceeding along the sea front a couple of  OFLUSs (an acronym for Old Farts Like US) expressed, vocally, fear at the sight of the big fierce dog we had with us.  A little later another person of similar vintage asked if we'd found her in a packet of cornflakes.  He was a friendly soul so I didn't comment that “yes, I'd cut my South Australian driving license off it and there she was.”

We wandered along the walk going around the silos and fishing jetty

and generally enjoying ourselves when I noticed that putting on our raincoats had been a good idea.  Looking at the sky suggested it was about to get very damp so we returned to the car.  In fact the dark sky appeared to have been a very localised shower, but we still drove to Billy Light's Point .  The aim of going there was to find our way to a Reserve described as a bird-watchers paradise.

This turned out to be a tad hard to find as all access to the Reserve appeared to be labelled as Private Property.  Eventually we got to a track overlooking the sea covered with very large gravel.  It was hard for us to walk on and must have been agony for Tammy.  Then Frances spotted a dirt trail on the far side of some lagoons.  More bad signage by Port Lincoln City Council, who will be getting some advice about this.  From looking at one (badly defaced) sign we did eventually find it seems as though the rocky track was the bed of a former railway line.)

Eventually we got to the Reserve to be greeted by a group of about 4 green parrots.  They had blue faces so were Rock Parrots (not quite a lifer, but my original sighting at the salt fields North of Adelaide had been very stringy).  Shortly after we decided that the wind was too cold to stick to the waterside so headed off back towards an inland track.  Before getting there Frances had to explore the far side of a bush.  To my surprise I was called to attend her.  She had discovered another colony of Cyrtostylis robusta and on this occasion some of the flowers were fullyopen.  Despite the howling gale I managed to take a couple of reasonable images.

We had become convinced of the ID from reading the text in “First start with the leaves” a book by Robert Lawrence about the orchids of the Adelaide hills.  With that as a good hint I had been able to follow up with “Orchids of South Australia” which revealed the species to be common on the coast, both limestone (original sighting) and sandy soil (later sighting).

A few other additional good plants were seen today as well as several  repeats from yesterday:

Melaleuca halmaturorum p

Leucopogonparviflorus  (this was a surprise as the plant was 2m high: I am used to knee-high bearded heaths!)

Eucalyptus sp

Acacia sp

Plus - although not photographed - a good collection of Xanthorrhea semiplana tatei beside the Flinders Highway.  The lack of images is dealt with tomorrow!

About 20 metres down the track a large white bird erupted from a tree letting fly with the most outstanding spray of guano I have ever seen in mid air.  It was very good that it didn't fly over us while so doing!  Frances, the eagle-eyed scout, picked it as a Barn Owl. 

Shortly thereafter we were serenaded by one of the local intelligentsia on a trail bike.  While he did slow down to pass us the noise of his machine was most offensive.  So we turned to go back home to find other intelligent persons were driving towards us while their 3 pig dogs ran beside the car.  I grabbed Tammy and moved off the track while Frances advised these well sun-tanned folk that we had a dog with us.  Their three mongrels were inserted back in their car, already occupied by about 5 anthropoids, and we passed by, accepting apologies.

We got back to our car and called in at a seafood place to get some prawns and oysters.  They made our tea, and very nice they were too!

Bird of the Day:                     Barn Owl [Rock Parrots strolled down the red carpet but were not as exciting as a day-time Owl].

Plant of the Day:                   Cyrtostilis robusta, as it was identified today!

Interesting thing of the day: the way the walk weaved though the post and silo areas.

What we learnt today:          Where Tammy came from!

And now this spell was snapped: once more

I viewed the parrots green,

And having once turned round walked quick

Because I saw a flying owl

Drop down a mighty slick.

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Day 6: Coffin Bay National Park

There, (or possibly here) around Lower Eyre Peninsula.

A large part of the attraction of this trip for me was the chance to visit Coffin Bay National Park which I had seen several times from aircraft between Adelaide and Perth.  It looked to have spectacular scenery, particularly when the 'planes were approaching Adelaide.

Today was the day we would fit this in to our schedule.  As it was a National Park the small dog would not be welcome so we took her for a walk to Ricky Bates Reserve first.  By being a little more adventurous we found that the area at the end of the road I had assumed was private property not only allowed public access, but also permitted dogs on leash.  (The leash bit reflects a 1080 fox baiting project.) We added several birds to the Dutton Bay list and found more orchids.  At present I am unsure if they are a different species or just  late-emerging specimens of Cyrtostylis robusta.  We also saw another dolphin (actually it could have  been the same one, but you know what I mean) out in the Bay.

On our way to Coffin Bay we found the Grass Trees again and stopped for photos.  Then on through the town to the National Park.  Getting our Park permits was amusing as we wanted to pay with change and the envelope wouldn't seal and the slot through which to post was too narrow for our pile of metal,  So someone will have to scrape it all out of the container.  Tough: if they had someone on duty they wouldn't have had the problem.

In fact we didn't see any trace of a Ranger or other official presence.  Presumably they all lurk in Port Lincoln where cafe lattes are easier to acquire.

We first stopped at the Templetonia Lookout to assess the rather spiffy 360 degree views to Mount Dutton etc in the North

and the sandhills behind Gunyah Beach, and the ocean, to the South,  

We then headed for Avoid Bay 

(and the similarly named Point).  

This was all bitumen and certainly provided some excellent cliff views.  There were many Rock Parrots around and an Osprey was soaring along the clifftops at the Point.

I had thought we would walk a trail from the bitumen road to Gunyah Baech but that turned out to be a 4x4 track so we drove along it until it started to look very sandy and parked.  This had cut about 1.2km off the 8km walk.  (In fact we could have gone for another 2km before it got too sandy, but the walk was very pleasant).

We didn't find many new plants for the day but the flowering of the Templetonia, Pomaderris (white bushes in the background, living up to its reputation as the coming woody weed),

Leucopogon and mallee-form Eucalyptus was excellent. Pigface and other succulents were on the dunes.  A   Wedge-tailed Eagle flew over (surprisingly the first for the trip) and various honeyeaters made a ruckus in the bush.  A group of 3 Emus were booming near the track.

In total we saw 18 species of bird in the Park, adding 3 to the trip list (which now stands at 91sp.)

Getting close to the beach we found some large sandhills on and in which the 4x4 fraternity had been having fun. 

We walked up and along one of the big hills and were intrigued to see how quickly (within 10 minutes) the wind was erasing our footprints in some places.   This is illustrated by the differing heights of the  track markers:

- a third one only had the red bit showing!

On leaving the Park we stopped to have another go at getting our envelope through the slot and while I was losing that battle Frances glanced out of the car and there was another large colony of gnat orchids.  They are giving Pomaderris a run for its money as next WW.

We then cruised the town looking for Oysters.  The first two places we investigated only sold closed ones and I didn't fancy opening them with a knife.  A passing ETSA employee told me a simple way to do it, if we had time:

1.      put them in a freezer overnight; then

2.      shift them to the fridge for about 2 hours; and

3.      they will open themselves.

I mention that for educational purposes only since we found that the butchers shop would open them for us for a quite reasonable fee.  So we did that.  (As an aside, in a conversation in the shop one participant mentioned that they had never used an ATM.  I am astonished!)

Back to the Shack to find a very happy little dog.

Just after typing this I glanced out the window and saw a Pacific Gull rise out of the water and dive back in, completely immersing itself.  It then flew to the beach with prey in beak.  The prey turned out to be a fist-sized octopus which was gobbled before I could photograph the event.  A Pied Oystercatcher ran past quickly, presumably to ensure it didn't beccome dessert.

Bird of the day:                     Emus [Osprey was a contender but Frances barely saw it.]

Flower of the day:                 Templetonia: everywhere in the Park

Interesting sight of the day: The sandhills

What we learnt today:          How to open oysters (without opening an artery). [To believe at least some "4WD drive only" signs was a runner up in this category.]

I looked upon the towering dunes,

And quietly blessed my luck;

I looked upon the carved up track,

And there I was not stuck.

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Day 7: Roadsides of Eyre Peninsula

Yet more meandering in LEP.

I began the day with a run over to Shelly Beach and back. A whole 4km, but better than nothing. On getting 'home' there was a nice dawn to look at!

We then went back to Ricky Bates Reserve and still could not confirm whether the new "new" orchids were a different species.  Some of them had red undersides to the leaves suggesting Acianthus pusillus but

1.      the labellum, while mainly maroon, and matching quite well the illustration in "Start with the Leaves" by Robert Lawrence, appears to be a lot paler than in the images I have from an electronic copy of "South Australia's Native Orchids" by RJ Bates for A.  pusillus;

2.      in one case at least the labellum has a point (like Cyrtostylis robusta); and

3.      the leaves were not, in any case, above the ground.

HELP!

Ask and ye shall receive.  At least you will if you ask the people from the Native Orchid Society of South Australia.  They have kindly confirmed that the identification of this species as Acianthus pusillus was correct.

At least two dolphins were out in the Bay and off the tip of the point, where we turned, an oysterperson was doing their business.  As we neared the exit on the return a Nankeen Night-heron flushed from some scrub above the water.  A nice addition to the trip list.

We had noticed that the catch on the gate to the Reserve had been broken since we last visited.  I was able to find a short length of fencing wire and close it to keep the ins and outs in the correct relativities but would like to know who to call about the breakage.  It turns out the area is owned by a local resident and I visited his home to tell him.  In short, they are breeding bettongs in there and the fence is to keep foxes out.  He tries to allow public access so that folk can get in to go fishing.  The gate was going to be fixed.

After a sit down and some lunch we headed off to explore some roadsides and reserves towards Wanilla.  This area was recommended in "Wildflowers of Lower Eyre Peninsula" by ANPS SA Region.   Although the weather was a little ordinary, with a number of showers passing through, we found a whiole bunch of pretty and interesting plants.  We weren't able to identify them all

●         Acacia spinescens- easy with a spiky stem and no phyllodes!  Three (!) other Acacias proved to have homes in the 'too hard' basket!

●         Astroloma conostepioides

●         Astroloma himfusum

●         Boronia coerulescens

●         Callistemon rugulosus

●         Correa reflexa

●         Cryptandra tormentosa.

●         Hakea cycloptera (and another Hakea in the 'too hard' basket)

A Drosera sp was snapped with a flower in the background, Gahnia deusta made an interesting shape and a Xanthorrhoea was found in flower!  A number of other flowers have been given names of the form "unknown <colour>".  One of these was obviously some sort of daisy, but was notable for having a small spider in situ!

Near to Wanilla we found our second Eyre Peninsula Shoe Tree. 

I have no idea why folk do this but it is probably better than slinging unwanted footwear over power lines!  This was near a marker just outside Wanilla explaining about the soldier settlement scheme in the area.

As it was beginning to micturate down we decided to leave Wanilla and take the signposted hypotenuse (but dirt rather than bitumen) route back to Wangary.  A bit along this route it seemed that a visit to a Conservation Reserve was possible as an optional extra.  However after one interesting 'foot to the floor and hope the 4WD works' moment we went back to where we were going.  It was  perplexing that after the sign at the start pointing us towards Wangary all the other signs along the road mentioned road names (mainly local identities - probably race horse owners) and a small amount of faith and navigation by landmarks was required to arrive at, or at least adjacent to, at the metropolis of Wangary (which aspires to reaching the status of one-horse town any time from now).

Bird of the day:                     Nankeen Night-heron

Plant of the day:                    Boronia coerulescens

Interesting sight of the day:  Looking down from the Reserve and seeing sea urchins and starfish in the bay.

What we learnt today:          That with roadside remnant of vegetation one can bird and plant-watch as well as in formal parks.  Without all the official rules that bugger things up in the formal areas.

Oystercatchers walked forth and back

as though they owned the beach.

Pacific Gull ate octopus (black)

As though it was a peach.

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